14 DAY TRIAL // When visiting a new place, most people tend to start behaving like those inhabiting that region. Apparently, this type of behavior is not displayed by humans alone.
Quite the contrary: it appears that monkeys also change their behavioral patterns when entering the territory of others of their kind.
These changes reportedly prove that the monkeys are ready and willing to embrace and abide by the social norms of the group whose territory they are visiting, regardless of whether or not these rules make any sense to them.
“As the saying goes, 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do'. Our findings suggest that a willingness to conform to what all those around you are doing when you visit a different culture is a disposition shared with other primates,” Professor Andrew Whiten of the University of St. Andrews reportedly said.
These conclusions were reached after the researchers studied how male wild vervet monkeys in South Africa behave when migrating from one group to another.